The present disclosure relates to the voting systems for elections. More specifically, it provides a system and method for providing network control of a direct recording electric voting network.
A variety of electronic voting systems are well known. For example, a variety of paper ballot systems have long existed. As voting technology has improved over time, electronic voting systems have become a preferred voting mechanism. Direct recording electronic (DRE) voting systems are electronic voting systems that record electronic votes directly. For at least some of these electronic voting systems, locally networked voting systems have become popular. In some embodiments of networked voting systems, votes may be cast on multiple voting terminals and then accumulated on one or more other networked controller devices.
Traditionally, local voting networks have been implementing as RS-485 based networks. In its most basic form, RS-485 based voting networks are configured as a series of network nodes, with each node connected in line in series to the next. The RS-485 network operates in a master/slave arrangement with the network controller operating as the master device and the voting terminals being slave devices. Standard RS-485 schemes may be utilized to connect the networked voting terminals in this serial based bus protocol. Thus, the voting network controller operates at the head of the serial daisy chain with a plurality of voting terminals connected in series down the chain, communicating via the RS-485 standard. It would be desirable to provide an improved local network for electronic voting.